Towards the design of a zero effluent facility in the pharmaceutical industry

Abstract

One of the main goals of any production facility is to have the least negative effect on the surrounding environment, while still producing the required output. The perfect scenario would be a production facility that produces zero effluents. The pharmaceutical production industry has some unique characteristics that make it possible to reach the goal of zero effluent. In such industries wastewater is generally produced from washing out of mixing vessels. The wastewater thus contains valuable product residue. It is possible, under the correct conditions, to reuse the wastewater as part of the formulation of a subsequent batch of a compatible product, thereby producing zero effluent from the operation. From this the question arises on the design of the production facility as to maximise the opportunity to reuse the wastewater, thus producing zero effluent, and keeping the capital costs of such a plant to a minimum. The derived methodology addresses the design aspect of a zero effluent pharmaceutical facility. The methodology takes storage and scheduling of the pharmaceutical operation into consideration.